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Assault on the Tree of Souls
The Assault on the Tree of Souls is the culminating battle in the struggle between the Resources Development Administration (RDA) and the Na'vi Tribes on Pandora. It occurred on August 20, 2154 and was an attempt by RDA forces, led by Miles Quaritch, to destroy the Tree of Souls, where the sixth Toruk Makto, Jake Sully, had gathered over 2,000 Na'vi warriors from fifteen different tribes. Though the RDA initially routed the Na'vi forces, the sudden entrance of Pandora's vicious wildlife into the battle quickly turned the tide against them, and they were overwhelmed, forcing the survivors to retreat to Hell's Gate, where the Na'vi later pursued them and forced their withdrawal from Pandora. Lead-up to the battle Following his failed attempt to prevent the destruction of Hometree, Jake Sully, with the assistance of Trudy Chacon, escaped from Hell's Gate, along with Grace Augustine and Norm Spellman. After making Tsahaylu with a Great Leonopteryx, thus becoming the sixth Toruk Makto, Sully had regained the trust of the homeless Omaticaya Clan, which had taken refuge at the Tree of Souls. Sully quickly began amassing a force of Na'vi warriors, with the intent of striking back at the RDA. He managed to draw some 2,000 warriors to the Tree of Souls in a matter of days - however, the RDA, led by Quaritch, tracked these developments via orbital reconnaissance, and quickly formulated a pre-emptive strike, his plan involved rigging a Valkyrie shuttle with large pallets of mining explosives and then dropping them and destroying the Tree of Souls. Quaritch figured that destroying this sacred tree would scare the Na'vi from ever coming close to Hell's Gate again. This would essentially end the conflict once and for all by crushing the spirit of the Na'vi people and presumably allowing the RDA to gain control of all of Pandora by completing their extermination of the Na'vi. The night before the battle, Jake approached the Tree of Souls to ask Eywa for her help in defeating the RDA, but was told by Neytiri that Eywa only assists in the balance of life on Pandora and would most likely not intervene. Warned of Quaritch's plans by Dr. Max Patel, Sully prepared an ambush, realizing that the magnetic vortexes of the Hallelujah Mountains would render much of the human technology useless, forcing them to fight without automatic tracking systems in an unfamiliar environment. The Battle Quaritch's massive fleet arrived near the Tree of Souls in the early morning, all centered around a Valkyrie shuttle that had been modified for military use, with massive caches of explosives in its cargo hold, and machine gun crews nested on top as well as fixed on the platform. Escorting the shuttle were dozens of Samson and Scorpion aircraft, as well as the incredibly powerful Dragon Assault Ship, from which Quaritch oversaw the battle. Jake Sully, riding his Toruk, commanded the Na'vi forces, which waited until the RDA fleet came within four "klicks" (4 km) of the Tree of Souls, and deployed its ground forces (consisting of several AMPs and infantrymen), before attacking. The Na'vi attacked from both ground level and above - the Ikran Riders, lying in wait on the face of several floating mountains, took the fleet by surprise, while hundreds of Direhorse riders mounted a full charge of the RDA ground forces, with Norm Spellman's avatar assisting. Despite having met some initial success in destroying several of the RDA aircraft - primarily due to the element of surprise - the Na'vi forces quickly succumbed to the immense firepower of the RDA. The direhorse riders were routed by overwhelming firepower from both ground forces and Scorpion gunships providing air support, and, while more successful, the Ikran riders were soon routed or killed. Tsu'Tey made a valiant effort to disable the Valkyrie shuttle, boarding it and killing over a half-dozen soldiers before being shot several times and sent falling to the jungle below. Sully himself was targeted by Quaritch's Dragon Assault Ship, which was then attacked by Trudy Chacon, who drew its fire away from Sully's Toruk. Chacon's Samson, however, was no match for the firepower of the Dragon, and, after several moments of pursuit, was destroyed, after Chacon reported her status to Sully and apologized for not being able to do more. Eywa Intervenes As the battle turned against the Na'vi, Quaritch ordered the Valkyrie to proceed with its bombing run. Norm Spellman was forced to return to his human body after his avatar was critically injured. After recovering from the shock of nearly dying, he left the relay module and set off into the jungle to rejoin the battle. Neytiri was forced by a Samson to fly down into the jungle, where Lyle Wainfleet shot down her Ikran, killing it. Surrounded by advancing RDA troops, Neytiri prepared to make her final stand, though Sully, flying high above, begged her not to. Seconds before she was about to open fire, the ground began shaking, and Wainfleet, detecting large movement ahead of him, ordered the RDA infantry to halt. He, along with the other ground forces, were caught off-guard by a herd of Hammerhead Titanothere, charging directly at their lines. Firing in futility at the creatures' immensely thick armor, the AMPs were destroyed. The rest of the Human infantry was routed, most of them killed by Viperwolves or crushed along with the AMPs by the Titanotheres. Neytiri realised that Eywa had heard the Jake's prayer at the Tree of Souls, and that the creatures of Pandora were now fighting back against the RDA. A lone Thanator emerged, startling Neytiri, but did not attack her, instead offering itself to her as a mount. Up above, the RDA fleet found itself under attack by thousands of Ikran, which quickly destroyed most of the escorts and sent the rest into retreat. A frustrated Quaritch ordered the Valkyrie shuttle to press the target, hoping to still destroy the Tree of Souls despite the heavy losses. As the shuttle prepared to unload its cargo, it was boarded by Jake Sully, who cleared one of its machine gun nests with his own weapon, threw a grenade into one of the air ducts before quickly jumping back onto his Toruk, destroying one of the shuttle's wings and sending it veering into the ground, where it exploded. After destroying the Valkyire, Sully attempted to destroy Quaritch's Dragon using the same strategy. However, Quaritch saw Sully's riderless Toruk, and then spotted him preparing to use his grenades. He pulled the pilot's yoke to the side, knocking Sully off balance and causing the grenades to miss their target. One grenade bounced off the ship and was rendered ineffective, but the other still managed to do severe hull damage and exposed the crew the the toxic atmosphere of Pandora. Sully, left hanging off of a missile launcher, removed one of the missiles from it, preparing to throw it into a rotor. In doing so, he was shot by Quaritch, who had forced open an escape hatch near his AMP and drawn his sidearm. Sully fell into the jungle, using the leaves to break his fall, as the out-of-control Dragon spun towards the ground. Quaritch, his shoulder on fire, quickly entered his AMP and jumped out of the ship just as it exploded, the wreckage landing behind him on the jungle floor. Jake & Neytiri vs. Quaritch An enraged Quaritch searched the jungle, eventually finding the module containing Jake's human body. As he prepared to destroy it, Neytiri, riding a Thanator, attacked him. They struggled, and though Quaritch's primary weapon was destroyed, he managed to kill the Thanator with his AMP's combat knife, trapping Neytiri underneath it. Sully intervened as he was about to kill her, and the two struggled further, with Jake using the AMP's rifle bayonet to deflect Quaritch's blows, and eventually disarming him altogether. He shattered the AMP's visor with the bayonet, forcing Quaritch to eject it and use an exopack. Quaritch taunted Sully, and, with no weapons remaining, attacked the relay module, destroying Norm Spellman's vacant link unit and exposing Jake to the deadly Pandoran atmosphere. Jake attacked Quaritch with his knife, nearly killing him, but collapsed as his human body began to suffocate. Quaritch then picked Jake up with his AMP and prepared to kill him with his own knife, but was shot twice with poisoned arrows by Neytiri, killing him. Sully exited his avatar, desperately reaching for an exopack, but lost consciousness before he could equip it. He was saved by Neytiri, who deduced that Jake's human form was inside the relay module. She found him lying down unconcsious and puts the Exopack he failed to reach for on his face. Jake begins to regain consciousness and fully activates the Exopack. Neytiri sees that he is alive and Jake says the traditional Na'vi greeting "I see you". Neytiri begins to cry and says the same. This adds completely new meaning as this is the first time she sees him in his much weaker human form Aftermath Following the overwhelming defeat of the RDA forces, the Hell's Gate facility, now lacking its massive military might, was overrun by the triumphant Na'vi. The natives, under Jake Sully's supervision, forced the humans to leave the planet on the remaining Valkyrie shuttle, which presumably ferried them to the ISV Venture Star, which would then take them back to Earth. A few humans, including Norm Spellman and Dr. Max Patel, were allowed to remain on Pandora, and Jake Sully, feeling that Toruk Makto was no longer needed, released his Toruk before returning to the Tree of Souls, where he successfully transferred his consciousness into his avatar body permanently. Gallery File:Mechs.jpg|AMP Suits being offloaded from Quaritch's Dragon. File:Battlion.jpg|RDA ground forces open fire on Na'vis on Direhorses. File:Shootingchoppers.jpg|Trudy's Samson confronting Quaritch's Dragon. File:Aerial-battle.jpg|Banshees sent by Ewya help repel the air forces. File:Pandora-monster.jpg|Neytiri riding a Thanator to attack Quaritch's AMP Suit. Category:Events Category:Avatar